Larry Tubelle

Following my wife’s death a year ago after a 60-year marriage, I wrote my first play, “Join the Club”, a three-act musical drama which was selected and staged in a new plays festival and later performed in a staged reading June 2015. Now I am busy writing a second play and attempting to market a book entitled “Dear Dr. Beastley.”

I was motivated to begin writing by a need to occupy and express myself and work vigorously to escape the overpowering trauma of losing my life’s companion over six decades. I also wanted to discover a new outlet for my writing skills after a long career as a film critic and documentarian, neither of which enabled me to find a job in old age.

In your 80’€™s, you just have to grab the bull by its horns.

The plays and stories I write have a message to convey and I’m trying to deliver that message to bring the things I’ve learned over the long haul to both a younger audience for their edification and my peers for their enjoyment. This brings me a sense of fulfillment and accomplishment. It also serves as a kind of life memoir and hopefully inspiration for my children and grandchildren.

Don’t relegate older adults to the trash heap. Listen to what they have to say, in whatever form. They’ve paid their dues and learned their life lessons. They have valuable insights to offer. Hire them. “Attention must be paid” (to them), to steal a line from Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman.”